An actuator laden structure being debuted at the Sochi Olympics is bringing a personal touch to this year’s Winter Olympics.
The Olympic Games has always been a spectacle, and this year’s game will be no different thanks to London architect Asif Khan’s populist pavilion. Consisting of 10,000 actuators spread across the front of his pavilion’s façade, Khan’s “Kinetic Façade” will display the faces of the Games’ visitors and is already being called the Mount Rushmore of the Digital Age.
According to Khan, the concept behind the pavilion is to make everyone the face of the Olympic Games. To accomplish this feat Khan’s team has placed 3D photo booths inside the pavilion where spectators can have a 3D representation of their faces rendered. Once their 3D snap shot has been captured it’ll be relayed to the pavilions mechanical systems which manipulate the actuators on the building’s exterior. Once processed the 2 meter (6.5ft) long actuators will snap into action aligning themselves to match the curvature of the facial data they’ve been fed.
Tipped with color LEDs each actuator will be able to render a realistic avatar of a participant for a full 20 seconds. To give each rendering a bit more depth and fluidity Khan has designed his pavilion to have a pliable membrane exterior.
While there have been many memorable sculptures and architectural wonders to grace the Olympic Games, none have been so public, participatory and ambitious as Khan’s brilliant Kinectic Façade.
Image Courtesy of Asif Khan
